Medium of the year

week 6
the RTL Group intranet
Newsletter
Medium of the year
How the Belgian RTL Digital makes
the most out of content
Russia
A new media brand: Klub 100
Germany
Training for all by 104.6 RTL Radio
France
RTL.fr, the leading radio website for listeners
Spain
Most frequently watched in Spain:
Antena 3 news
The Netherlands
New house style for RTL 4
the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Voted 2007
Medium of the Year
Stéphane Coruble, Managing Director of RTL Digital
RTL Group has now been active in Belgium for
exactly 20 years, establishing a group that has
steadily grown and notched up success after
success, constantly anticipating what its audience wants. RTL Belgium is actually an umbrella
group that combines no fewer than three TV
channels (RTL-TVI, Club RTL, Plug TV), three
'conventional' radio stations (Bel RTL, Radio
Contact and Mint) and two brand new Web radio
stations (Mint Rock and Mint Nouvelle Scène).
As the public is now well aware, some major
upheavals are effectively revolutionising the
audiovisual sector. RTL Belgium has always set
great store by innovation, so in September 2006
it decided to establish a ‘third pillar’, called RTL
Digital, run by Stéphane Coruble. His mission
was to structure, exploit and develop the full
potential unlocked by the advent of digital technologies. This meant pursuing what TVI General
Manager Freddy Tacheny (somewhat tongue in
cheek) called the “cat strategy”, i.e. how
to ensure that content produced by the
group had at least nine lives, not just by
making the most of it on the Internet, of
course, but also by exploiting it on other
media, like mobile phones, portable
computers, portable Playstations, and
so on.
RTL Digital has received a Merit Award
in the 2007 Medium of the Year category,
crowning 18 months of inspired innovation
for the benefit of the Belgian public.
Belgium - 6 February 2008
Stéphane Coruble told one Belgian daily: “Our
aim is to make content accessible to anyone, at
any time, on any platform”. Since RTL Digital
was set up, it has been a real breeding ground of
innovative ideas and has achieved a tremendous
amount, as soon becomes clear from the following overview.
Exactly six months ago the group’s digital arm
launched the information website RTLInfo.be,
which took just another six months to become
for the first time the leading Belgian information
website for French-speakers in terms of unique
visitors, attracting over 1 million Web users in
December 2007. The website has its own editorial team, hosts a wealth of sound recordings
and 600 fragments of video clips and broadcasts RTL-TVI news bulletins live. At the same
time, interactivity is served by enabling anyone
to act as a reporter for the website and text in a
scoop.
The dawning of the digital age meant
that the group’s ‘usual’ activities had to
be reconsidered, because two new possibilities – interactivity and mobility – now
need to be borne constantly in mind. The
new requirement to take due account of
mobility is neatly summarised by what
New feature 2008 for RTLinfo.be: live news
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the RTL Group intranet
RTL Digital's next major achievement came last
September, when it rose to the challenge of
launching a temporary digital event channel
RTL-TVI 20 ans to celebrate the Belgian broadcaster's 20th anniversary. Viewers tuned in every
day for a healthy dose of nostalgic viewing, watching the programmes that made RTL-TVI the
successful operator it is today. Next, as if any
more proof was needed that RTL Digital is not
exactly short of ideas, it organised an interactive
competition for this temporary channel's viewers, offering the winner an unprecedented
opportunity of serving as the channel's programming director for a weekend.
week 6
In the radio sector, Mint – “the radio station with the better taste” – just celebrated its first birthday in January.
But RTL Digital certainly didn't let
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interactive player enabling listeners
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to see a list of the music broadcast
and obtain first-hand information on
artists and songs. Furthermore, a recent
partnership deal concluded with Amazon and
iTunes means that listeners tuning in on the Web
can now buy records online.
Two months later, in November, RTL Digital launched the VOD platform RTL à l'infini, which
offers Belgacom TV subscribers
access to a number of top US series
broadcast by RTL-TVI. Its catalogue
Stéphane Coruble
currently comprises over 300 episodes (though this number is set to rise)
Stéphane Coruble was born in Corsica and joined
of shows like Desperate Housewives,
IP in 1994, after studying marketing in Aix-enLost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty,
Provence, London and Cologne. In 1999, Pol
Criminal Minds, and even airs some
Heyse, the general manager at the time, asked him
episodes as sneak previews. This is a
to set up the RTL Belgium website. He was subsereal first in French-speaking Belgium
quently placed in charge of interactivity when casand was enabled by an agreement
ting shows like A la recherche de la nouvelle star
concluded with the Disney Group.
opened up the way for voting by text message. In
Since the platform was launched,
due course, Coruble was appointed marketing
more than 100,000 videos have been
director of IP TV and of Diversification. For the past
downloaded from it.
year he's been CEO of RTL Digital.
RTL à l’infini, the VOD platform
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
A new media brand:
Klub 100
Klub 100
In the future, the company will operate all its TV,
Internet and merchandising activities under the
“Klub 100” brand. In this context, all four existing thematic channels “Russkiy Illusion”
(Russian movies), “Illusion+” (international classic movies), “Zoo Park” (animal channel) and
“Detskiy” (childrens’ channel) also have changed their logo and on-air design.
Anatoly Sosnovskiy, CEO of Content Union
S.A., comments: “The new on-air look of the
channels underlines the aspirations and the
values of the channels towards their viewers.
This is only a small step in the future development of our company, which will be followed by
a gradual improvement in the quality of the
existing channels and the launch of new thematic channels over the coming months.
Consequently, this will create new jobs, especially in the field of programming.”
Ralph Siebenaler, Chief Operating
Officer of Content Union S.A.,
says: “The challenge was to create
unique character features which
give every channel their own mood
and identity, and at the same time
reflect the existing brand values of
our channels. Research among our
viewers found out that they perceive our four channels Russkiy
Illusion, Illusion+, Zoo Park and
Detskiy as positive, friendly, trustful, nearby, emotional and smiling.
We want to be a Russian TV operator fulfilling the expectations of
the Russian cable and satellite viewers at their best.”
Content Union S.A. announced the launch of a
new media brand “Klub 100” in Russia and the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on
5 February 2008.
Russia - 6 February 2008
The new channel identity symbolizes a current
of emotions carrying the viewers from one program to the next. This wave of feelings is
emphasized by the underlying musical moods,
which are all individually arranged but responding to one common theme.
The logos and graphics were created by
Broadcasting Center Europe. The musical
arrangements were composed and produced
by the European musician Anselme Pau.
Content Union S.A. is active in the fields of production, operation and distribution of thematic,
non-terrestrial TV channels in Russia and in the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It
is a joint-venture between Continental Finance
Group (50%) and RTL Group (50%), the leading
European entertainment network.
Russkiy Illusion, Illusion+
Zoo Park, Detskiy
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Training for all
104.6 RTL Radio has concluded its Ausbildung für alle (Training for All)
campaign guaranteeing a whole class of youngsters in their final year at school
a traineeship in one of a wide range of companies.
Germany - 6 February 2008
The German federal states of Berlin and
Brandenburg have over a million pupils at secondary modern schools (Hauptschulen) and many of
them have no prospect of finding a suitable traineeship. One result of this is that every day as
many as 15,000 schoolkids play truant. To motivate these youngsters and encourage them to attend
school on a regular basis, 104.6 RTL Radio launched its Ausbildung für alle campaign at the start of
the 2007/2008 semester.
“We wanted to offer schoolkids some prospects
and get them to attend school regularly,” said
104.6 RTL Radio Programming Director Arno
Müller. “That’s why we looked for the class with the
lowest number of registered hours of truancy over
the past semester: a class that as a whole had
shown positive commitment and a hunger to
improve.”
So together with various partners, including the
German railways Deutsche Bahn, Edeka, Saturn,
Bauhaus and many others, the popular radio station secured a number of guaranteed traineeships
that would be made available to the pupils in the
winning class.
In all, 50 classes took part in the competition, and
seven of them even managed to get through the
entire semester without anyone playing truant. To
find a worthy winner, on 4 February these seven
classes appeared before a panel of judges, which
ended up picking class 10a from the
Oderbruchschule in Neutrebbin as the winner.
Starting in September, the kids in this class will all
start as trainees in areas as diverse as mechatronics, cookery, sales or car paint-spraying.
The campaign was additionally sponsored by RTL
Television, which broadcast two reports on it during
this week’s editions of its news magazine Punkt.
Students and teachers of the winner class, 10a from the Oderbruchschule in Neutrebbin
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
RTL.fr, the leading radio
website for listeners
RTL Radio France launched its new website
rtl.fr, marking a real desire to move in a different direction to other current media portals.
For RTL Radio has refocused on its core business by developing a site where sound takes
centre stage.
France - 1 February 2008
The exciting new website of France’s leading
radio station has been totally rethought and
given a full makeover. The result is a site that is
pioneering, whilst remaining very closely in
touch with its listeners. In short, it’s a natural
extension of the radio station itself.
RTL.fr is also a space where listeners can
exchange views with the people who make
their radio programmes. Some presenters, like
Jean-Michel Aphatie or Jérôme Godefroy, keep
daily blogs. And there’s also the RTL Foot soccer blog, of course.
RTL.fr is all about sound, which is an innovative approach at a time when other websites are
rushing to feature plenty of text and videos.
Unlike them, the RTL Radio website concentrates on radio. Visitors can navigate from one
sound to another in a single click and immerse
themselves in a universe where sound reigns
supreme, regardless of whether they’re looking
for information, music programmes or entertainment. The centrepiece of the new website’s
sound-based architecture is a player that
enables listeners to tune into RTL live at any
time of day. The site also showcases the new
digital radio stations RTL L’Equipe (sport and
information) and RTL Autrement (where
visitors can piece together their own
schedule of RTL programmes), and
offers plenty of podcasts.
Navigation of the new RTL.fr website is simple
and intuitive. Each recording is categorised in
line with its content: a news topic, interview,
programme extract, and so on. Searches can
be run by topic, programme or presenter,
making it really easy for listeners to find what
they’re looking for. Main news headlines and
the day’s programme schedule are listed at the
top of the page to speed up access, and are
constantly updated on a real-time basis.
A survey by Médiamétrie classed RTL.fr as
France’s most popular radio station, attracting
840,000 unique visitors every month.
RTL.fr also provides news as soon as it
happens. Everything broadcast by the
station (scoops, reports, interviews,
etc.) is immediately available on the
website. In this respect the site undeniably benefits from the strength of the
radio station’s 120-strong team of journalists, ensuring that broadcasts are
always right up to date.
RTL.fr
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Most frequently watched in Spain:
Antena 3 news
In 2004, Antena 3 was the first TV channel in Europe to outperform its public-service
counterparts in the news domain.
Spain - 5 February 2008
For the third year in succession, the RTL Group
channel’s news format Antena 3 Noticias maintained its standing as the most frequently watched information programme in Spain. In 2007
once again, averaging a weekly market share
of 21.2 per cent, Antena 3 Noticias was way
ahead of its private and public-sector competitors.
Three years ago, Antena 3 made European
television history when, according to its own
figures, it became the continent’s first private
TV channel to outperform public operators in
what was supposed to be a domain where they
reigned supreme, i.e., news. Furthermore, over
the past 38 months, Antena 3 has not relinquished that leading position. On the contrary, its
news format kicked off the 2007/2008 television season with a new design and plenty of
cutting-edge technology.
But the success of Antena 3 Noticias is also
due to its presenter, the journalist Matías Prats.
He took over the news format in 1998, and in
September will be celebrating his tenth anniversary at Antena 3. Over the past decade he
has presented 2,413 newscasts, and including
the work he did before joining Antena 3
Noticias, he has lent his face and voice to a
record-breaking 7,000 information and news
shows.
Matías Prats, Antena3 Noticias presenter
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
New house style
for RTL 4
RTL 4 started airing its new idents on
1 February, replacing the previously profiled
well-known RTL 4 faces with graphics designed
to provide a welcome interlude between blocks
of advertising and programmes. The number 4
features prominently in all the idents.
The Netherlands - 4 February 2008
As part of RTL 4’s new house style, these
idents may link up with programmes (e.g.
Gooische Vrouwen, TV Makelaar, RTL Nieuws,
Herman den Blijker programmes, RTL Voetbal
and CSI) or specific themes (like the cinema,
lifestyle, cooking or date- and event-related
topics).
The first, date-related theme to be taken up is
Valentine’s Day on Thursday, 14 February. As
with the Christmas Wishes campaign in
December 2007, viewers will again be given a
chance to send in their message and see it
aired on RTL 4. The Valentine’s Day campaign
will adopt the look of the new house style,
which was designed by RTL Nederland’s
Creative department.
RTL 4 Programming Director,
Erland Galjaard, said: “I’m really
proud of our new house style.
Not only do the idents constitute
visit
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channel, they also boost its
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They look fresh and friendly, highlighting the quality of the channel’s
programmes, and also reflect what
the RTL 4 brand intends to serve up in
2008, that is familiar old and welcome new
favourites, topics and programmes.”
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Erland Galjaard,
Programming Director of RTL4
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Promises kept?
French president, Nicolas Sarkozy
On 6 February, the station gave listeners its initial assessment of the French president’s performance nine months after Sarkozy’s election
on 6 May. RTL Radio scrutinised the promises
the then presidential candidate made on purchasing power, immigration, the environment,
social security, foreign policy and other key
issues.
The listeners of RTL Radio France were treated
to the station’s answer to a legitimate and hotly
debated question posed by its editorial team:
Nine months after being elected president, is
Nicolas Sarkozy keeping his promises?
France - 7 February 2008
For instance, Brice Hortefeux, Minister for
Immigration, was the station's guest on the
07.50 programme L'invité de RTL and Socialist
Party First Secretary François Hollande featured in the 12.30 news bulletin. The day's coverage then culminated in a colourful debate on
the station's controversial programme On refait
le monde (Let's Remake the World) from 19.15
to 20.00.
The polls in France suggest that the
president’s popularity has waned,
whilst his private life has made the
headlines in all media. So the radio station’s editorial team devoted an entire
day to clarifying the situation for its listeners in a series of reports, surveys
and debates fuelled by contributions
from studio guests.
Brice Hortefeux, Minister for Immigration
Nicolas Poincré, presenter of On refait le monde
François Hollande, Socialist Party First Secretary
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
A landmark celebration
for Vox’s magazine
on pets
Diana Eichhorn
What started out on 6 April 2002 as a programme offering fitness tips for dogs and their
owners and advice on how to give two pot-bellied pigs a manicure has now evolved into one
of the most successful animal formats on
German television. So after six years and 300
programmes, Hundkatzemaus has every right
to celebrate.
The 300th episode of Vox’s magazine on pets,
Hundkatzemaus, airs on 9 February.
Germany - 7 February 2008
Hundkatzemaus achieved its top ratings so far
on 30 June 2007, achieving an audience share
of 10.8 per cent in advertisers’ favourite 14- to
49-year-old target group. On average, 1.64 million viewers tune in every Saturday for their
weekly dose of top animal stories and valuable
tips from experts like the appropriately named
vet Dr Wolf and reporter Diana Eichhorn and
‘animal nanny’ Katja Geb-Mann.
For Editorial Manager Jan Biekehör the
300th programme is a special bonus:
“We're delighted to have been able to
bring viewers so many moving, curious
and amazing animal stories over the past
six years. And best of all, there’s no sign of
any shortage of fascinating tales.”
The special anniversary edition will start off
with the mini-series Ein Kätzchen zieht ein
(A Kitten Moves in), whose reporter, Diana
Eichhorn, said: “Cats are among Germans’
favourite pets. They purr people’s stress
away, give them some comfort and generally adore being stroked. Our experts provide numerous tips for our viewers to follow when welcoming a cuddly kitten into
the family.”
Dr Wolf
Katja Geb-Mann
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Shooting on
Rooibos mit Milch
with Hannelore Hoger
Hannelore Hoger has already earned plenty of
laurels for UFA playing the detective Bella Block
in the unusually classy crime films of the same
name. Now the famous detective has been
re-cast as a scientist in a new melodrama.
Germany - 1 February 2008
On 28 January, UFA shooting began in South
Africa on the film Rooibos mit Milch (Rooibos
With Milk). The film is being directed by Rainer
Kaufmann (Die Kirschenkönigin, Ein fliehendes
Pferd), and Hannelore Hoger’s co-star is Rolf
Lassgard, best known for his portrayal of the
Swedish detective Kurt Wallander.
Rooibos mit Milch is being made by UFA
Fernsehproduktion for ZDF, based on a screenplay by Stefanie Sycholt, who grew up in South
Africa herself. The film’s executive producers
are Norbert Sauer and Selma Brenner.
Shooting in South Africa is scheduled for completion by 29 February. No broadcast date has
been set yet.
The melodrama plays on a rooibos tea
farm in the Cedar Mountains near Cape
Town. Hannelore Hoger’s character, Ella,
is a respected neuropsychiatrist from
Hamburg who has returned to South
Africa after decades spent away. But
back in Africa, Ella is confronted with her
past: 40 years earlier, she had been involved with a young black boy named Ben,
and fallen pregnant with his baby. Since
abortion was never an option for her, Ella
gave birth to the baby but then had to
give her up for adoption. As Ella faces up
to her own past, she realises that her ties
to Africa are stronger than everything she
has spent the past 40 years trying to suppress. So she sets off on a search for her
long-lost daughter.
Bella Block’s star Hannelore Hoger
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Fabulous prizes for
a painting competition
Super RTL has just launched a painting
competition entitled Welche ist Deine
Lieblingslok? (Which is your favourite engine?)
for all the young fans of its hit format
Thomas & seine Freunde (Thomas & Friends).
Germany - 1 February 2008
Participants should paint their favourite engine
from the successful series for pre-school children and send in their entry to Super RTL. The
aim is to make the kids more familiar with the
different characters in the series and encourage them to think more about them. The prizes
include everything needed to make a themed
Thomas & seine Freunde children’s bedroom
and some great Thomas & seine Freunde activity packs.
The competition will run on various platforms
until 15 March. It will also be advertised in
Müller sales outlets, in the current edition of
Panini‘s Thomas & seine Freunde magazine, on
air on Super RTL and on the Toggolino.de website.
Toggolino.de
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the RTL Group intranet
week 6
Getting off to a flying start in 2008
In January the channels run by Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland were clear market
leaders, earning a market share of 33.6 per cent in the 14-49 target group, more than
5 percentage points ahead of competitors broadcasting group ProSiebenSat.1.
Germany - 4 February 2008
FremantleMedia named as exclusive licensing agency
CBS Consumer Products has appointed FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) as its exclusive
licensing agency for Australia and New Zealand.
United Kingdom - 4 February 2008
Living legend commentates on rugby
To do full justice to the Six Nations rugby tournament, RTL Radio France has hired former
French captain Abdelatif Benazzi as a consultant.
France - 4 February 2008
Market leader in its target group
All four of RTL Nederland’s channels performed well in January, and both RTL 7 and RTL 8
even recorded their best month ever.
The Netherlands - 5 February 2008
Berlin Wall film honoured at the New York Festival
The Teamworx production Die Mauer - Berlin ‘61 (The Wall – Berlin 1961) came in third out
of 15 films entered in the TV Movie / Special Drama category at the festival.
Germany - 5 February 2008
Awards for design at the New York Festival
The opening sequence of RTL II’s cooking format Die Kochprofis won a World Medal and
the channel’s current corporate design also bagged a prestigious award.
Germany - 6 February 2008
M6 viewers are well-informed drivers
For the third year running, M6 is airing La route en direct, a short, informative programme
on cars and the dangers associated with them. This year the programme is being broadcast several times a day, together with the weather forecast.
France - 7 February 2008
14
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